The YAIAA joined a number of high school athletic conferences in delaying the start of fall sports. 

League representatives voted Thursday morning to move back the start dates for sports to September. The YAIAA will play league-only contests this fall. 

For football, heat acclimation will begin Aug. 31 and practices will start Sept. 4. The first week for games will be Sept 18. There will be no scrimmages. 

Golf is set to begin Sept. 7, tennis Sept. 9 and the rest of the sports on Sept. 24. 

The decision comes two days after the league’s principals and athletic directors held a virtual meeting to discuss fall sports. 

The PIAA announced last Wednesday that fall sports could begin as scheduled, though with a number of added health and safety restrictions. While practices were scheduled to start Aug. 17 with games beginning shortly after, the organization gave schools the option to delay the season until September, and no later than Oct. 5. 

In the week since, a number of conferences have decided to push back the start dates for practices and competitions as school districts across the state continue to develop plans to return to classrooms. 

The Pittsburgh-based Western Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (District 7) announced last week that football wouldn’t begin play until Sept 10, with other sports not starting until Sept 14. 

This Mid Penn and Lancaster-Lebanon League announced this week that they are also delaying competitions until September. District 3 will be holding its next meeting Monday. 

A number of other conferences around the state have also pushed back their start dates. 

This is a developing story. 

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone. 

Please help us continue to provide this in-depth local sports coverage by subscribing. Here are the current special offers for new subscribers.